Mysterious Friendships
by MysteryMoonbeam
Summary: An author girl named Mystery accidentally becomes WarioWare's comic writer! Mystery doesn't mind this, however; what she's really worried about is making friends, something she's never been good at... but maybe her reputation as a famous author will help?
1. A Letter From Wario

**This is my first fanfic I've submitted to this site, a story about a weird and crazy author girl called Mystery who joins WarioWare, Inc. As her name suggests, she is quite mysterious at first, but you find out more about her as the story goes on.**

**Without further ado, here is my fanfic! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer Stuff: WarioWare and all the characters in this story(except Mystery) belong to Nintendo. Mystery belongs to me. Blah blah blah. Let's get on with the fanfic. :D**

CHAPTER 1: A Letter From Wario

My name is Mystery. Well, it's not my REAL name, but I won't bother confusing you with complicated explainations. I'm an author. I've just moved to a place called Diamond City. And I've just recieved a letter from a guy called Warui - what? Wario? Oops, my mistake. Anyway, this Wario guy sent me a letter asking me to come to 'WarioWare, Inc.' tomorrow morning at 9am sharp. No doubt my goldfish memory will fail me again. I'm likely to forget. But I also have no idea who Wario is. For all I know he could be a kidnapper. No, a cannibal kidnapper, waiting for me in a dark alley, waiting for the right moment to pounce upon me and feast on my flesh...

Uh... heh... sorry about that. I did mention I'm an author. My imagination tends to be a little... crazy. You know what? I'm gonna look up 'WarioWare, Inc.' on the Internet. See what this is all about.

...It's just a video game company. No creepy kidnappers, nobody waiting to eat me, just plain old video games. That's a relief. Not that I ever believed that creepy stuff in the first place. But why does creepy-Wario-guy want me to come to his video game company?

Well... I like video games. And my imagination is pretty wild. Maybe he wants me to come up with an idea for a new video game?

It'll be the storyline, definitely. So I'll be working on the storyline for a new video game? Awesome...!

But there I go again, making things up. It's probably something like this: Wario has read one on my books that is coincidentally similar to a storyline in one of his games. Now he wants to sue me. Great.

...Nah! It's probably neither. You know what? All this daydreaming is making me tired. I'm gonna put a note up on my bedroom wall(remember what I said about my memory?) and go to sleep. Tomorrow I'll find out what this whole thing is all about.

-x-

I was awake all night last night thinking about today. In the end, I hardly slept at all. I also slept in, waking up at half past ten, meaning I'm late...

I barely had time to get ready. I brushed my teeth and threw on my favorite clothes(my jeans and pink t-shirt with 'Mystery' written on it), slipped my magenta glasses on my nose, brushed my blonde hair into a ponytail with my green hair bobble, put on my orange and white striped trainers and rushed down the street munching on a cereal bar for breakfast. To make matters worse, it was super cold and windy outside but I didn't have time to go back for my coat.

And to top it off, I was about halfway there when I realised I was holding my map of the city upside down. So it took me about half an hour to finally arrive at the WarioWare, Inc. Headquarters when it should have only taken ten minutes. I was greeted at the entrance by a red-haired girl wearing a biker outfit. Which kinda made sense, because she was standing next to a red scooter I guessed was hers. But anyway. I was greeted by this girl upon my arrival.

"Are you Mystery?" she asked.

"Um, yeah, I got a letter from Wario-"

"Where have you been? You're two hours late! Wario had almost given up on you, but I said that you had probably got lost. You did get lost, didn't you? You didn't forget?"

"Well... yeah, I got lost-"

"We shouldn't keep Wario waiting any more. I'll take you inside to meet him." The girl started leading me up a flight of stairs. "By the way, I'm Mona."

"I'm Mystery."

"I know, and I love your books. After I heard you had come to Diamond City I simply HAD to ask you to visit!"

"So... you sent that letter?"

"No, that was Wario. He got the wrong idea, thinking I was telling him about a friend of mine who wanted to work here."

"W-Work here? But I don't know a thing about making video games!"

"Don't worry, I told Wario you're an author and he suggested comic making. We've been looking for someone to write comics, but none of our current staff have any artistic talent." By this time we were standing outside a door with a big 'W' on it. Mona knocked on the door. "Good luck!"

"Wait, hold on on a second!" I called, but she had already begun scampering back down the stairs.

"Who's there?" came a voice from in the office. "Mona? Did you bring my doughnuts? If not, go away."

I eased the door open and poked my head inside. The floor was littered with candy wrappers and junk food boxes. At a desk in the middle of the room sat a man I recognised from a picture I saw on the WarioWare website last night. It was Wario.

"Um... hello?" I whispered.

"Who the heck are you?" Wario asked. "Oh, yeah! You're Misery, aren't you? Come in and sit down."

"Actually it's Mystery..." I corrected, entering the room on tiptoe, careful not to stand on any wrappers or boxes. Eventually I reached a chair in front of Wario's desk and sat down. "I got a letter from you yesterday-"

"Yeah, Mona said something about you wanting to work here."

"As a comic writer."

"Go see Mona, she'll show you your workstation."

"Wait... so I've got the job?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," was the uninterested reply. Wario started picking his nose, so I walked out and left him to it.

I found Mona waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. "How did it go?"

"I think I got the job... Wario said you'd show me my workstation?"

"Yup! Right this way!"

I was led out the back door of the WarioWare Headquaters and to a small building shaped like a standing green pencil. A sign hung from the door that said 'Microgame Studio'. Mona opened the door and took me inside. There was a computer, a cork board, and some kind of machine about the same height as me. It read 'Super MakerMatic 21' on both sides.

"What's this?" I asked, pressing the 'on' switch. The MakerMatic thingy whirred into life and started making bleeping noises. Mona tapped a few things on the screen.

"Here you go! The Comic MakerMatic. This is what you'll use to make comics."

I peered at the screen. There were four blank panels waiting to be drawn, and a 'settings' button. I tapped the 'settings' button and it gave me an option to rename my comic. At the moment, it was simply named 'Comic'. I changed the name to 'WarioWare' and began drawing the first panel. In it, I drew a little picture of me walking towards the WarioWare, Inc. building. Then I drew the second panel; me meeting and shaking hands with Mona. I added a speech bubble above my head which read 'Hello'. I gave Mona a speech bubble too; hers read 'Nice to meet you'. Then in the third panel I drew Mona taking me up a flight of stairs. In the last panel I drew me meeting Wario. I remembered something Wario had said. Trying my best to keep a straight face, I drew a speech bubble above Wario's head. It read 'Bring me doughnuts'. Then I burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Mona glanced at the screen - and started giggling. "Did he really say that?"

"He said something like 'Mona, is that you? Where are my doughnuts?' when you knocked on the door."

"Oh, no! I completely forgot!" said Mona, still laughing. "Still, I suppose it doesn't matter too much."

"What are you two laughing at?" called a familiar voice. It was Wario! I quickly erased the fourth panel of the comic. I had given Wario crossed eyes and a few other features that I didn't think he would appreciate. "You're late for the meeting!"

"The meeting!" Mona cried, no longer giggling. "I completely forgot! Come on, Mystery!"

With that, Mona grabbed me by the arm and dragged me back to the WarioWare HQ.


	2. New Friendships

CHAPTER 2: New Friendships

I was led into a room with a table full of my new co-workers. Mona sat down. Wario threw himself into the chair at the head of the table and instructed me to sit at the only empty seat available. I was seated next to a half-human half-cyborg who stared at me with an eerie red dot for an eye in his visor. On my left was a strange, white creature who had a head shaped like a bowling pin and wore a black cape, white boots, and sunglasses. He/she/it/whatever also stared at me, which almost creeped me out as much as the human-cyborg. However, the white creature's small size made him/her/it/whatever quite cute.

Everyone was staring at me. Most of them looked creepy and weird. But then I remembered that I, too, am creepy and weird. I just don't look like it.

"I'm... Mystery," I announced into the unnerving silence. Immediately, my new co-workers began to introduce themselves.

"Hi, I'm Mona!"

"What's up? I'm 9-Volt!"

"Yo, I'm Jimmy!"

"The name's Dribble."

"I'm Kat, and this is my twin sister Ana!"

"Word!"

It was incredibly overwhelming to have so many people introduce themselves at once. But I kept my cool, thinking how similar this situation was to the time the queue got out of hand at a recent book signing. At least there was no popcorn machine to set on fire this time.

"Shut up!" Wario yelled. "You've all met Misery! Now let's get to work!"

"I told you, my name is Mystery..." I corrected him again, but he paid no attention and began talking about game sales. I felt someone poke my back. I swivelled around to see the human-cyborg gazing at me with that red dot eye... I shudder just remembering that creepy stare...

"How do you do?" he whispered, just in case Wario heard. "My name is Dr. Crygor. I believe you have been set to working with the Super MakerMatic 21?"

"The SuperWhattyThing?" I whispered in reply. Then I remembered; he was talking about that machine that made comics. "Oh, right, that. Yeah, Wario made me the comic writer."

"I invented the Super MakerMatic 21!" Dr. Crygor hissed proudly. "Did you know it can also make Microgames and records?"

"I didn't know that. Will you show me sometime?"

"I'll show you," said another voice. I leaned forward and looked past Dr. Crygor. Sitting next to him was a red-haired girl with pigtails, wearing round glasses over her brown eyes, and a pink jacket. She was smiling, so I smiled back.

"Will you really show me how to use the MakerThingy?" I asked, still whispering.

"Of course I will!" The girl forgot to whisper. Wario heard and started yelling something like 'talking during meetings isn't going to make me more money, so shut up and listen'. We shut up and listened, but not before I gave the girl a grateful smile.

A few minutes later, I felt something poke my knee. I almost screamed, but then I realised what it was. I looked down at the seat on my left to see the little white creature gazing up at me, a weird little smile on his face. I giggled anxiously and smiled back. The creature said something in a voice that sounded like a machine malfunctioning. I didn't understand, so I shook my head. The creature looked around and ducked down onto the floor when nobody was looking. He emerged with a scrap of paper in his hand. Picking up a pencil, he wrote something on it and passed it to me. The writing was wobbly, but I could just about make out what it said: 'Greetings'. I glanced at the creature again, who was trying to say something.

...Oh, I get it. He's saying 'greetings', like on the paper.

"Misery!"

I looked up. Wario was glaring at me. I decided this wasn't the best time to remind him of my name.

"That's it! I'm deducting your pay for this week!"

Wow, what a great start...

-x-

Seemingly many decades later, the meeting was dismissed. Thank goodness for that. I had brought my Nintendo DS with me, and I stayed where I was and began to play Animal Crossing: Wild World. I love animals, making Animal Crossing my favorite game series.

"Hey, newbie! Whatcha playin'?" came a voice behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see 9-Volt watching my DS screen. Well, screens. You know what I mean. "Animal Crossing, huh? Yeah, I like that game, but I prefer fighting games. I'm real good at them too." 9-Volt punched the air in front of him to demonstrate. "You wanna come round to my place later and play video games?"

"Well, I'd love to," I said, closing my DS, "but there's this book I'm working on-"

"Books are boring. Do you have that book game, 100 Classic Books? I have it. It's boring. Like I said, I prefer fighting games. Or racing games. How about a game of Mario Kart Wii?"

"Well..." I hesitated, watching him race around the room controlling an imaginary steering wheel and making car sounds. "OK, OK, I'll play Mario Kart with you."

"You will?" 9-Volt let out a whoop of joy. "I'm warning you, though, I won't lose to a girl!"

"Oh, yeah?" I laughed. "We'll see about that!"

9-Volt dragged me round to his house as soon as work was over for the day. His best friend, 18-Volt, also came. 9-Volt's mother called as soon as we arrived at his house.

"9-Volt? Is that you, dear?"

"Yeah, mom, it's me. I was just going to play Mario Kart Wii with 18-Volt and my new friend Mystery."

I felt a wave of happiness wash over me. 9-Volt said I was his friend. I never thought I would actually be able to make friends with anyone; my few friends at school always say I keep to myself too much. I suppose it's part of being a bookworm. And although I love to play video games in my spare time, my school friends prefer girly things like shopping and make-up. I'm not a girly kind of girl like that. Which is probably why I don't have many friends. But then again, they don't know Mystery... if only they all knew...

9-Volt led us up to his bedroom, and it was amazing, to say the least. His shelves were absolutely STUFFED with video games of all sorts; GameCube games, Wii games, DS games, Game Boy games, even really old games I had never even heard of before like NES games.

"You've got Pokemon Black!" I cried, slotting it into my DS and switching it on. "Aw, the Pokemon in your party are adorable!"

"I have every Nintendo game ever released and then some," 9-Volt said proudly. "Try whichever ones you want."

"Nintendogs!" I squealed. "They're so cute!"

I tried almost every animal-related game in 9-Volt's collection, while 9-Volt and 18-Volt started playing music on 9-Volt's DJ table. Most of the music was video game music, and I recognised most of them. Once I had had my fill of the games, I asked if we could play Mario Kart now.

"Word!" said 18-Volt.

9-Volt slotted the disc into his Wii and instantly claimed he was going to play as Mario. 18-Volt chose Luigi. I chose Baby Peach, just because she's cute. 9-Volt also chose the course - Rainbow Road, the hardest one, even though I asked for an easy one as this was my first time playing Mario Kart Wii... or any Mario Kart game at all. Of course, you can probably guess the result.

"I win! I win!" 9-Volt cheered. "Let's play again!"

"Hey, hold on a second!" I cried. "I couldn't even finish the course! I kept falling off! I want to choose this time."

"It's not my fault you stink at Mario Kart," said 9-Volt triumphantly.

"Alright then," was my response, "we'll play Rainbow Road again. And this time, I'll come in 1st place."

"You're on!" 9-Volt grinned. "And if you lose?"

I glanced at the mess surrounding us. "I'll tidy your bedroom for you."

"Then let's race!" cried 9-Volt.

"Word!" said 18-Volt.


	3. Making Microgames

CHAPTER 3: Making Microgames

I lost. I came in last place again. Which meant I had to tidy 9-Volt's bedroom, and he laughed the whole time.

"Told you I wouldn't be beaten by a girl!"

I didn't mind too much. I was laughing too, and 9-Volt was laughing with me, not at me. I was just glad to have a friend.

-x-

The next day on my way to work, I got the fright of my life. Seriously, I think I almost had a heart attack, and even if I didn't I would have been squished if I hadn't jumped out of the way. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating. But anyway. About what happened.

I was on my way to work, taking a shortcut through the park, when I heard a whirring noise behind me. I guessed it was just a silly fly buzzing around my ear, but the whirring got louder and louder. I turned around to swat the stupid fly, but all I saw was a huge blur of pink heading straight for me! My first instinct was to jump out of the way, so I leapt onto the grass just as the Pink Blur whizzed over my head and smashed itself into the ground. The impact of the Pink Blur threw me into the air and I landed with a bump. Ouch, my stomach... ouch, my head...

My glasses also flew off my face as I hit the ground and I had no idea where they went, so the Pink Blur remained a blur even when still. Everything was a blur. Something white with round black eyes emerged from the Pink Blur, and I think it noticed me because it began to approach me. Quickly, I picked myself up and retreated behind a tree, but the white thing followed me.

"Go away!" I yelled. "Go on, get lost!"

The white thing must have understood because it made a sad sort of noise and walked away... straight towards a dark-pink something in the grass!

"Oh, no, you don't!" I said, rushing to pick up my glasses before the white thing got its sticky paws on them. "I need them to see! Stay away!" Throwing myself onto the grass and grabbing my glasses, I slipped them on my nose and everything came into focus, including the white thing. It was the small cute creature who sat next to me at the meeting yesterday!

"Greetings!" he burbled in his malfunctioning-machine voice.

"It's you!" I suddenly felt so guilty. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you! I couldn't see properly without my glasses."

"Liar, you knew!"

"What?" I cried. "No, no, I didn't, really!"

The creature sighed. "Liar, you knew."

"I didn't! I-"

Then I listened closer to what he was saying. It wasn't 'Liar, you knew'. It was 'I forgive you'.

"Oh! I-I'm sorry, it's just your voice makes your speech difficult to understand." I paused. "I still don't know your name!"

The creature said something.

"Orlyron?"

He shook his head and said it again.

"Orboton?"

Wrong again.

"Say it again? ...Oh, I think I've got it. Orbulon, right?"

He nodded this time. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Misery."

"Um, my name is Mystery, not Misery."

"That's what I said."

"Oh, right. Sorry. It just sounded like... oh, never mind. So are you an alien?"

"Yes. I am from the planet known as something." He didn't actually say 'something'. He burbled some random alien gibberish word that I pretended to understand.

"Oh, yes, that planet..." I mumbled. "Hey, are these your eyes?" I poked his big black eyes, but he didn't flinch.

"They are moregibberishalienwords. However, Earthlings call them 'sunglasses'."

"Then what do your eyes look like?" I took hold of his sunglasses with my thumb and index finger and yanked them off his face. His eyes were small and sky blue. "Aw, so cute!"

Orbulon didn't approve of this at all. He grabbed his sunglasses back and yelled at me, but I couldn't understand what he was saying at all. Maybe he was swearing in his native alien language?

Just then I heard a beeping noise. It was my watch telling me it was 9am, meaning both Orbulon and I were late. Fantastic.

"We're late! Come on, Orbulon, we have to go!" I cried, rising to my feet.

"What about my Oinker?"

"Your what?" Then I realised he meant the Pink Blur. Now that I could see it clearly, I saw it resembled a pig. A broken pig. "You'll have to fix it later. Wario will be mad if we're late."

Orbulon hesitated, but he agreed to come back to it later when I offered to help him fix it after work. Wario got mad anyway and deducted our pay for this week. There won't be anything left of mine by pay day...

-x-

Penny was waiting for me inside the Microgame Studio when I arrived.

"Hi, I'm Penny! she said. "I'm going to show you how to make Microgames with the MakerMatic!"

"Is it difficult?" I asked worriedly.

"It's easy as pie," Penny assured me. Then she added, "Once you get used to it."

"Well... OK. How do we start?"

"Let's start by choosing a theme for your games."

"A theme? Like, a theme tune?"

"No!" Penny giggled. "An example would be my grandpa's games, his Microgame theme is Reality."

"Oh, I get it! OK, then... I know! Strange stuff, 'cause I'm crazy."

"Sorry, Mystery. That's Mona's Microgame theme."

"Well... what about IQ? 'Cause I'm a nerdy bookworm, haha."

"Sorry. That's Orbulon's theme."

"Nature?"

"Kat and Ana."

"Retro Nintendo?"

"9-Volt."

"Sci-fi?"

"Dribble and Spitz."

I sighed. "Well... friendship. Let me do a Friendship theme."

Penny considered. "That sounds OK, and I don't think anyone else has that theme..."

"Thank goodness for that. I was running out of ideas. ...Does anyone have a Sports theme?"

"Yes, actua-"

"Then that's all my ideas. Friendship it is. Now how do I make Microgames with the MakerThing?" I switched on the MakerMatic, and Penny showed me how to make a Microgame, step by step.

The graphics were such fun to make, especially the background. I drew a park full of flowers and greenery, then created two objects; one was a little Mystery, the other was a little Penny. Each had two sets of art, which I had named 'normal' and 'happy' for each.

The music was simple enough. I used the maestro function to create a relaxed, happy tune.

The AI was the most complicated part. It was easy enough placing little Mystery and little Penny at opposite ends of the park, but I kept messing up on the rest. I wanted to tap Mystery and Penny to make them move towards each other, them when they meet they change to their 'happy' art. Don't ask me how, but I ended up with a game where if you tap little Mystery, she'll walk straight past Penny and walk off the screen. As for little Penny, when she's tapped she'll move towards little Mystery, and when they meet Penny will stop moving and rapidly switch between her 'normal' and 'happy' art as if she was having a seizure.

The real Penny laughed and fixed things for me, while I watched and learned. Once she had rewritten the AI, we had a nice little Microgame ready to be shipped. I called the game 'New Friends'. Something I never thought I would find here.


	4. Mystery's Book Signing

CHAPTER 4: Mystery's Book Signing

As promised, I headed straight to the park after work to help Oinker and his smashed Orbulon. ...Wait, I got that mixed up, didn't I? Orbulon and his smashed Oinker. Yes, that's better.

I knew it was a mistake from the moment I offered to help. To start off my troubles, the Oinker was small. Really small. So small I could barely fit through the door. That took about ten minutes, and then I had to crawl everywhere. Then Orbulon set me to work fixing the engine. Apparently, the engine overheated and something in it broke which caused the Oinker to crash. I know nothing at all about Earth engines, let alone this complicated alien thing sitting in the back of the ship. Orbulon tried to show me what to do, but it was far too complicated and frustrating. I was so close to smashing the Oinker and its owner to pieces, so Orbulon hastily set me to work cleaning the Control Room instead.

The Control Room was littered with all sorts of alien books, alien weapons, and alien food that had fallen off shelves when the Oinker had crashed. I found this job much easier, mainly because the Control Room was bigger and I could actually stand up, though I still had to be careful not to squish anything on the floor. I flicked through some of the books but they were all in another language, most likely Orbulon's, so I put it back on the book shelf. I put the assorted ray guns in a cupboard, not brave enough to try them out. Snacks also littered the floor. One of them was pink with orange polka-dots and shaped like a tulip head, so I tasted it. It tasted like metallic soap and had a texture like chewy plastic, which almost made be sick. I spat it out into my hand and hid it underneath a few books on the bookshelf. What else could I do? There wasn't a bin.

The Control Room was free of all mess before long, and Orbulon had repaired the engine and came to help, only I didn't need help because I had already finished cleaning.

"Thank you, Mystery," said Orbulon.

I smiled. "Happy to help! I suppose I should head home now, there's this book I'm writing- oh, that reminds me!" I whipped a notebook and pencil out of my pocket. "Can I ask a few questions about your species?"

"Why?"

"I like to learn about other creatures. Like cats and dogs. And aliens. Even though you're the first alien I've ever met. Plus it might give me some inspiration for a future story."

"Very well."

"Great! Well then... what's your species called?"

Orbulon said some sort of alien word.

"Uh... OK!" I smiled nervously, pretending to write in my notebook. "By the way, do you have a birthday?"

"My date of birth? It is the fourty-second day of the month of Mensis."

"..."

"The sixteenth month of the year."

"Oh, uh, yeah!" More pretend writing. This was going nowhere. Maybe I should stick to animals. I decided to skip the question 'What do your species eat?' and moved on to, "What's the life span of your species? Oh, and can your answer be in Earth years?"

"Approximately eight thousand five hundred and twenty nine Earth years."

Wow. But at least I got an answer I could actually understand this time. I scribbled in my notebook and thought up another question. It was a pretty weird one, but then so am I. "How does your species reproduce?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know. Breed. Have babies. Oh, and how many babies does your species have at once?"

"Um... well..." Orbulon stammered, his white face turning bright red. "C-Can we skip this question?"

"Huh? Why?" Then I imagined that Orbulon telling me about how his species breeds would be like me telling him about... eek. "Yeah, you're right. Next question."

I had actually run out of questions, though I tried hard to think of one to break the awkward silence surrounding us.

Orbulon did it for me, but not in the best way possible. "Would you like a snack?"

"No thanks," I replied instantly.

-x-

It was a couple of days later I couldn't go to work. I had told Wario the day before that I had a book signing to prepare for, and he wasn't very pleased. He deducted my pay again. But Mona was ecstatic.

"You have no idea how much I've been looking forward to this!" she squealed. "Your latest book is finally out! What's it called again?"

"Mysterious Friendships," I said. "It's about a girl called Amber who has a collection of dolls and they come to life one moonlit night."

"That's sounds great," said Penny, smiling. "I can't wait to read it."

"I wasn't aware toys came to life on the night of a full moon," said Orbulon.

"They don't," I laughed, "it's just a story."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" said Ashley, but she said nothing more.

"We want to read it," said Kat.

"We love your other books," Ana added.

"Thanks, Kat! Thanks, Ana!" I gave them a big smile. It was nice to be appreciated.

"I might read a bit," 9-Volt said, surprisingly. "You know, when I'm not too busy playing video games."

"I guess you'll be too busy playing games to come to the book signing tomorrow?" I asked.

9-Volt shrugged. "Probably."

"I'll come," said Penny.

"Me too," said Mona. "I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

"What if the fire grows out of control?" Orbulon asked. We all stared at him, confused.

"What are you talking about?" I said, half giggling.

"When you set the books on fire."

"What? I'm not going to set them on fire!"

"But you said... book singeing."

Everyone burst out laughing. Even Ashley smirked.

"Book SIGNING!" I corrected. "As if I'd set the books on fire!" I stopped laughing when Orbulon gave me an upset look. "Sorry, Orbulon. But anyway... will you be able to come tomorrow?"

Orbulon considered. Then he nodded. "Very well, I shall attend your book singe- er, signing."

"Great! What about you, Ashley?"

"The only books I read are spellbooks. I have no time for stories."

"We'll come," said Kat. "Won't we, sis?"

"Yup," Ana agreed.

"Thank you, everyone!" I said gratefully. "Knowing that all my friends are coming makes me look forward to the book signing even more!"

-x-

I sat at my table at the bookstore, a pot of pencils in front of me. I selected my favourite green one and practiced my signature on a piece of paper, swirly letters, all joined up. I was ready.

Slipping my pencil behind my ear, I headed out the door of the bookstore to greet everyone who had come to see me. Nervous children chewed their fingernails, bored parents kept checking their watches. Most children were clutching books, when suddenly one noticed me watching at the door and cried 'There she is!' causing the whole crowd to look at me and cheer.

I stepped outside and waved to the cheering crowd. "Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for coming today!"

The crowd's cheering became louder.

"I'm looking forward to meeting all of you!" With that, I re-entered the bookstore and sat at my table. The cheering crowd was then let inside where they formed a queue.

Mona was the sixth person in the queue. She slammed her 'Mysterious Friendships' book on the table, startling me, and grinned excitedly. "Mystery! Will you sign my book?"

"Uh... s-sure!" was my shaky response. I opened Mona's book and slowly wrote my signature, talking to Mona all the while.

"Have you read any yet?" I asked.

"Yeah, I read the first chapter while I was waiting in the queue."

"And... did you like it?"

"LOVED it!"

I smiled, finishing my signature with a curly 'y'. I handed the book back to Mona. "I'm so glad you like it!"

Mona's grin grew wider. "Thank you, Mystery!" Then she skipped happily away, the book clutched to her chest.

Seeing Mona so happy made me happy too. It didn't take long before Penny reached the front of the queue.

"Hi, Penny!"

"Hello, Mystery!" Penny placed a book in front of me. "Will you sign my book?"

"Of course!" I opened the book and began to sign. "By the way, how did your experiment go the other day?"

"Experiment?"

"You know, the one where you added the liquid banana to pepper water to cause fireworks.

"Oh, that. It went terrible," Penny replied sadly. "The liquid banana mixed with the pepper caused the water molecules to multiply at an incredible rate of speed. Before Grandpa and I knew it, the lab was flooded."

"Eek. Is everything OK?"

"Of course." Penny regained her cheerful smile. "Grandpa and I solved the problem with sponges. They soaked up the water within minutes."

"That's good." I finished my signature and handed the book back to Penny. "Thanks for coming today, Penny!"

"Thank you, Mystery! I'll start reading right away."

Penny walked away. After signing another twenty or thirty books, I saw a familiar white face in the fifth place in the queue. He soon reached the front.

"Am I late?" Orbulon asked. "My Oinker crashed again. It was struck by lightning, causing me to lose control of the Oinker and-"

"You're not late," I interrupted. Then I smiled. "Do you want me to sign your book?"

Orbulon placed his book on the table. "Please do. But how will a signature affect the book?"

"Well..." I thought hard as I opened the book and signed. "Fans just like it when their favourite author signs a book for them."

Orbulon glanced behind him. "All these Earthlings are your fans?"

"I... I guess so."

"I was famous on my home planet."

"R-Really?"

"No." Orbulon started laughing, not a pleasant sound with a voice like a malfuctioning machine. I resisted the urge to cover my ears and wince in pain. Instead, I forced myself to laugh with him. After all, it WAS pretty funny, I guess.

"Here's your book!" I handed it back to him. "I hope you enjoy it!"

Orbulon took his book. "Thank you, Mystery." Then he walked away.

Kat and Ana were next to arrive. They placed their books on the table simultaneously and said "Please sign our books, Mystery!" in unison.

I just stared at them in surprise. They must have been practicing that in the queue. There's no way they could have done that otherwise... could they?

"Mystery?" said Kat.

"Are you OK?" said Ana.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." I giggled nervously and opened their books. "I'll sign these for you."

"Thank you, Mystery!" they said together. I smiled and said nothing more. Their twin act was starting to creep me out. They MUST have practiced it...

Surprisingly, 9-Volt decided to come after all.

"My mom made me," he insisted. "She said it would be good to get me away from my video games for a bit. What's good about being away from video games?"

"You get to spend time with friends," I answered, smiling. I held out my hand. "Give me your book, 9-Volt. I'll sign it for you."

"Book? I don't have a book."

"You... don't?" I glanced at the pile of 'Mysterious Friendships' books beside me on the table. "Would you like one?"

"Well... I don't know..."

"Don't worry, you can have it for free," I said, picking one up and signing it. "You know, as a present. Because you're my friend."

"I was actually wondering if I'd ever get around to reading it. I'm usually too busy with playing my games for reading books."

"Oh, just take it, 9-Volt!" I laughed, thrusting the signed book in his face. "You might enjoy it."

9-Volt hesitated. "Well... alright. I'll try the first chapter." He took the book from me and wandered off, opening the book and beginning to read.

Today's book signing was one of the best days of my life. Because I was able to make all my friends happy. My... friends...


	5. We're Going to Burn!

CHAPTER 5: We're Going to Burn!

Once I had spoken to everyone and signed their books, they all headed home and I was left alone in the bookstore. Well, I wasn't actually alone. Mona and Orbulon had stayed behind. Mona was in the fiction section looking at more of my books. I was also in the fiction section, reading a book about two friends who get lost in a forest during a camping trip. I was almost at the end of chapter 2 when something pulled on my t-shirt.

"Mystery?"

I looked down. Orbulon was standing beside me, looking slightly anxious.

"What's up, Orbulon?" I responded cheerfully.

"You said there was going to be no book fire."

"Yeah."

"What about the one outside?"

"W-What? There's a fire outside?" I cried. "Orbulon, what did you do?"

Orbulon took a step back, startled by my yelling. "It has nothing to do with me! Two human teenagers took 9-Volt's book and are trying to set it on fire."

Upon hearing this, I dropped my book and rushed outside, closely followed by Orbulon. Right outside the bookstore stood two boys, both looking older than me, the biggest one holding 9-Volt's book and the other one holding a lit match underneath it. Poor 9-Volt was leaping up and down, frantically trying to retrieve his book.

"Give it back!" 9-Volt yelled. "My friend Mystery gave me that book!"

"Yeah, right," said the boy holding the book. "You probably stole it. And you're a liar. As if you could be friends with Mystery!"

"I am! She says I'm her friend!"

"She says that to everyone, idiot."

"Little Loony Liar," the other boy teased, moving the match closer to the book.

"You're the loonies!" 9-Volt yelled. "'Only a silly fool plays with fire'. That's what my teacher said at school."

The boys simply laughed, and the flame drew closer to the book, the flames licking the spine...

"Stop!" I shouted. "9-Volt's right! You're loonies! Crazy loonies! You'll kill us all! Please, put out that flame!"

The boys exchanged glances before laughing at me. I felt myself bubbling over with rage, resisting the urge to punch their silly smug faces. Then Orbulon stepped forward.

"Please give my friend his book back and I won't have to resort to violence."

The idiotic boys took one look at Orbulon's small size and burst out laughing a second time.

"I warned you," said Orbulon. He reached behind him, presumably into a pocket in his cape, and took out... a ray gun?

I gasped, 9-Volt gasped, the idiots gasped, and Orbulon took a step forward, placing his finger over the trigger.

"Orbulon, no!" I cried.

"Orbulon, yeah!" 9-Volt grinned.

Orbulon said some alien word - and pulled the trigger, sending a red laser flying towards the boys. He missed, but I don't know if he did that on purpose or not. It scared the boys anyway, making them drop the book and match and flee. The book immediately went up in flames, slowly growing.

"Way to go, genius!" I said scornfully.

Aliens don't understand sarcasm. "Thank you, Mystery."

"9-Volt why did you encourage him?"

"I don't know," 9-Volt whispered guiltily. "Orbulon looked pretty cool with a gun."

Orbulon smiled and reached behind him into his cape. "Would you like to see it again?"

"No! No more ray guns!" I yelled. "Quick, we have to get help!"

Suddenly, the fire made a whooshing sound and began to advance towards us. We made the terrible mistake of retreating into the bookstore. There was no escaping now. The flames quickly surrounded the store. We were trapped. 9-Volt burst into tears.

"We're going to burn!" he sobbed. "We're going to die! I'll never forget you guys!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" I shouted, grabbing 9-Volt by the shoulders and giving him a shake. "You give up far too easily!"

9-Volt cried harder. I sighed and put my arms around him, giving him a hug to show I wasn't mad at him and we weren't about to sit here and die. Orbulon gave a sad murmur and joined the hug. We would have probably stayed there forever if we didn't hear footsteps. Oh yeah, and we had to escape death, but yeah. We heard footsteps and rose to our feet.

"Mystery! 9-Volt! Orbulon! What happened? The bookstore is going up in flames!"

"Mona!" I cried, half glad to see her, half worried she was going to burn with us. "I... well... there were these boys-"

"They set my book on fire!" 9-Volt moaned. "I was actually enjoying it! Me! 9-Volt! Enjoying a book!"

There was an awkward silence.

"What?" said 9-Volt.

"Nothing, 9-Volt," Mona said quickly. She turned to look at me. "We need a way out of here, Mystery."

"Did you try the fire exit?"

Mona shook her head sadly. "It's no use. It's blocked by the fire."

"What about the fire alarm?"

Mona gasped. "I forgot about the alarm! I'll go and find it. Mystery, 9-Volt, Orbulon- you find a way out."

And so we went in seperate directions. We began by looking outside all the windows to see if there was any fire-free zone for us to escape through. But it was no use. We were well and truly surrounded.

"We need to think outside of the box," I said.

"We do?" said Orbulon. "I thought we needed to get outside of the bookstore."

"It's an expression, Orbulon. It means think differently."

"I'm no good at thinking," 9-Volt whined.

"I am," I said. "Well. Given a bit of time."

"We don't have a bit of time!" 9-Volt yelled and trembled in fear. "We have only minutes before we're completely burned to ashes."

Just then a piercing ring filled the bookstore. Looks like Mona found the fire alarm. Hearing it made this whole freaky situation seem even scarier. I started trembling too. 9-Volt saw this and gave me a hug to reassure me, like I had done earlier. I hugged him back gratefully.

"We'll be alright... won't we, Mystery?"

"You know we will, 9-Volt. We'll get out of this together. You, me, Mona and Orbulon." I glanced at Orbulon. He was pacing back and forth.

"That deafening noise made me lose my train of thought," he complained.

"What do you mean?" asked 9-Volt.

Orbulon looked up and pointed. "Look up there, on the celing."

"A window!" I whispered. "And it's open!"

"I was thinking of a way to reach the window and use it as a means of escape. But now I have forgotten."

"Oh, Orbulon!" I moaned. "You have to remember! That window is our only way out! Don't you have a grapple hook or something?" I picked him up by his cape and started going through the pockets. I found several ray guns, two things that looked a bit like Swiss Army knives, a mobile phone and a half eaten alien snack. Orbulon wriggled and squirmed the whole time.

"You're... choking... me!" he gasped.

I quickly dropped him and he fell face down on the floor, where he lay and coughed. I wanted to help him but I was afraid of hurting him again. Eventually he stopped his coughing fit and got to his feet, just as Mona found us again.

"That is LOUD!" she yelled over the deafening screech of the alarm.

"I know!" I agreed.

"What? I can't hear you!"

"I said I know, it's really loud!"

"WHAT?"

I sighed. "Never mind."

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

"I SAID NEVER MIND!"

"OH, OK!"

I looked at 9-Volt. He was nibbling on the alien snack that had fallen out of Orbulon's pocket.

"9-Volt! Don't eat that!" I said, remembering the snack I had sampled during my visit to the Oinker.

"Huh?" 9-Volt mumbled. "Oh, right. Sorry, Orbulon." He held out the nibbled snack to Orbulon, who acted as if he was being handed a poisonous snake.

"I no longer want it. Not with your Earthling drool all over it."

"Oh. OK. More for me." 9-Volt continued eating the snack.

"What I meant was..." I began. Then I paused. 9-Volt seemed to be enjoying it. "Doesn't that taste bad?"

"No," said 9-Volt, smiling. "It tastes great."

"Eww!"

"You guys are forgetting that we have a burning building to escape!" Mona reminded us. "Did you find any way out? Any at all?"

"I have located a means of escape on the celing," said Orbulon, pointing. "Though I have yet to think of a way to reach it."

"You did think of one," said 9-Volt, finishing his disgusting snack, "but you forgot. Remember?"

"Orbulon!" Mona complained. "Can't you remember?"

"You may be our only hope of surviving this catastrophe!" I yelled in fear and irritation, unnecessarily worrying poor Orbulon more.

"I-I'll try my best," he stammered, then he continued pacing back and forth.

What seemed like years passed. I checked my watch. It had only been ten minutes since Mona set off the alarm.

"Come on, Orbulon," I hissed.

"You aren't exactly doing anything to help," Orbulon muttered. He glanced up at the window, smiled - but then shook his head sadly and continued pacing. "We must start by finding a way on top of that bookcase." Orbulon pointed to the tall bookcase directly underneath the window on the celing.

"Is there a ladder around here?" asked Mona. "Then we could-"

CRASH!

The four of us dived to the floor as the window behind us smashed to pieces.

"What was THAT?" 9-Volt screamed.

"The heat of the fire caused the glass particles of the window to expand," Orbulon explained as everyone stood up. "This increased the pressure on the window and caused it to break."

"What does that mean?" asked 9-Volt.

"It means the fire made the window smash itself," said Mona. "I think."

"Speaking of the fire... l-look!" I pointed frantically at the broken window. The fire was making its way inside and had already scorched the curtains.

"Run! Every man for himself!" 9-Volt yelled. He began climbing the bookcase like a little monkey.

"9-Volt, careful!" Mona cried. "The bookcase is going to fall!"

Mona was right. The bookcase began to topple, so she and I quickly pushed against it from either side. 9-Volt scrambled to the top.

"Now I'm safe." He gave a sigh of relief.

"What about us?" I reminded him, holding my hands out. "Help me up!"

"I can't lift you. You're too heavy."

"Thanks a lot," I mumbled, insulted.

Suddenly, there was another crash from behind us. Mona and I spun around to see the curtains of the broken window had fallen down. Orbulon began inspecting them.

"Orbulon, be careful!" I called. He was a little close to that fire, and it was creeping closer every second. Eventually, Orbulon pulled something long out of the curtain.

"Rope!" he said, holding it up triumphantly.

"Rope?" Mona repeated. "The curtains are hung up with rope?"

"Rope?" I parroted. "Why on Earth do we need-" Then I stopped. I grinned. I knew exactly why we needed rope. I flew at Orbulon, forgetting about the fire, and gave him such a big hug I probably broke a few of his bones. "Orbulon, you're a genius!"

"I know, but I've yet to find a hook."

"Still, we can find a hook, easy-peasy."

"Oh, I get it," said Mona. "There might be a toy we can use as a hook in the toddler play area." She skipped away towards the play area.

9-Volt was still confused. "What good will a rope and a hook do?"

"9-Volt, can't you work it out?" I laughed. "What can you make from a rope and hook?"

9-Volt thought. And thought and thought and thought. Eventually he gave up and shrugged.

"A grapple hook, of course," said Orbulon, fiddling with the rope. "Mystery? Are you able to tie knots in rope?"

"I can't even tie my shoes," I said truthfully. I simply leave them tied, and if they ever untie my mom ties them for me.

"9-Volt?"

"Nope. I'm with stupid." 9-Volt pointed to me.

"Hey!" I cried. Then I realised something. "Hey, 9-Volt! Doesn't that mean YOU'RE stupid too?"

"No, it means-" 9-Volt stopped. "Darn it!"

I started laughing at him, but in a friendly way. After a while, he joined the laughter too.

Just then, Mona came rushing back, breathing heavily trying to catch her breath. "It's getting worse by the minute," she whimpered. "We don't have much time left."

"Did you get a hook?" asked 9-Volt.

"Yup." Mona pulled a plastic toy helicopter out of her pocket. "This was all I could find. I was thinking we could use the rotor blades as a hook." She began trying to pull the rotor blades off the helicopter. Eventually, it broke with a snap. "Ouch, that hurt my hand!"

"Never mind that!" I screeched in panic. "We don't have long left! Quick, Mona! Tie the hook to the rope!"

Mona tied the rope and hook together as quick as she could, which wasn't very quick because she kept panicking and messing up the knot. Eventually, we ended up with a small grapple hook.

"Come on, get up here!" 9-Volt called. "I'll pull you up!"

"I thought I was too heavy," I huffed, still irritated by his mean comment.

"I was talking to Orbulon, not you."

Orbulon clambered up the bookcase and, once within reach, was yanked up to the top by 9-Volt. I kept the bookcase steady while Mona made her way up, and then she hauled me up too. We all had to be careful not to over-balance the bookcase on one side. Orbulon passed the grapple hook to Mona, because she was the tallest and more likely to reach the window. She missed completely on her first attempt. On her second try the rope missed again, then swung back and hit 9-Volt on the head.

"Ow!" he yelped.

"9-Volt! I'm so sorry!" said Mona. "Are you OK? Did I damage your helmet?"

"I hope not!"

Mona still didn't give up. She made a few more attempts at hooking the window, but she missed every time, nearly hitting me in the eye once. She gave up when the rope ended up wrapped around Orbulon's head. He shook it off, annoyed.

"I'll give it a go," I volunteered.

I tried, I really did. But it was no use. I was even worse than Mona. At one point I NEARLY had it, and we held our breath, hardly daring to hope, but I twitched in suspense, pulling the rope, and it fell back down.

"You girls are hopeless!" 9-Volt laughed. "Give me that rope! I'll get it up there."

Needless to say that 9-Volt's short height meant that he couldn't even reach the window. Ditto Orbulon.

"So is that it?" said 9-Volt sadly, sitting on the edge of the bookcase. "Are we screwed?"

"Probably," I agreed, sitting with him. I'm not usually the kind of person who gives up easily, but this... this was way out of control. 9-Volt was right. There was no way out. We were going to die. The fire alarm was still shrieking in the background. I heard clanking noises from behind me; Mona and Orbulon were trying again.

"Help us out," said Mona. "We have to keep trying."

I was way past trying by now. I buried my head in my hands and began to cry softly. I don't think anybody noticed. When I looked up, 9-volt wasn't sitting next to me anymore. I guessed he was going to try again too. I don't know why. It was hopeless. There was no chance that any of us were ever going to get out of-

CRASH!

Something suddenly smacked the back of my head, pushing me down onto the hard wooden floor below, smacking my head a second time. I think I was unconscious for a while after that...

-x-

"Mystery!"

"Wake up, Mystery!"

"We're on the roof now."

I slowly opened my eyes to find myself lying down, surrounded by Mona and 9-Volt. I had a splitting headache, and whenever I tried to move my right arm I cried out in pain.

"Try not to move, Mystery. You've been hurt," said Mona sympathetically. "You were knocked unconscious. And your arm..."

"What about my arm?" I tried to get a better look at my surroundings but I couldn't move my head without causing a throbbing pain. I saw a blue sky above me. Birds were cheeping. We were... outside?

"I got onto Mona's shoulders, and Orbulon got onto mine," 9-Volt explained. "He threw the rope and finally latched it on the window - but then Mona fell backwards and I kicked you in the head. Sorry about that."

"You what?"

"I said I was sorry!"

"I know, and I forgive you, but... how did you get me up onto the roof?"

"I... er... well..." Mona stammered. "You won't like it."

"Tell me," I insisted.

"I tied the rope to your arm. Then, once we had all climbed up to the roof, we... er... pulled you up."

I was speechless for a second. I didn't know whether to laugh and thank them or continue staring at them in disbelief. I decided to do neither.

"Where's Orbulon?" I asked instead.

"He's over there." 9-Volt pointed. "He hit his head when we fell off the bookcase, so he's resting too."

"His injuries aren't as bad as yours," Mona added.

I sat up as best I could, even though it made my headache worse. Orbulon was sitting on the edge of the roof, watching the birds fly past. I held out my(left) hand to Mona, and she helped me to my feet.

"Orbulon?" I called. He turned to look at me. "Have you found a way down?"

Orbulon shook his head sadly. "No, but have faith in me. I shall think of a way."

"You'd better hurry then," said 9-Volt, peering through the window. "It won't be long before the fire gets inside and burns the bookstore to the ground."

"Hurry up, Orbulon," I whined.

"Don't rush him agin, Myst-" Mona stopped. She put her hand to her ear.

"What is it, Mona?"

"Shh! Can you hear that?"

We all listened. Mona was right - there was a faint ringing sound in the distance. No, not the fire alarm. This ringing sounded different. It sounded like...

"A firetruck!" 9-Volt cheered, jumping up and down in delight. "We're saved! We're saved!"

-x-

It didn't take long before the firetruck arrived at the foot of the burning bookstore. Two firemen rescued us from the roof while other firemen ran around with hoses putting the fire out. One fireman questioned as to how we ended up on the roof in the first place. None of us gave any explaination, still stunned by what had just happened. I glanced back at the bookstore as we were being led away. The ground around it and most of the walls were scorched black. Some of the wall was crumbling to ashes.

I don't think I want to do another book signing for a while.


	6. Party Time

CHAPTER 6: Party Time

I can't believe it. I've made so many friends when I didn't think I could even make one. Three of those friends are particularly special to me. Mona, Orbulon and 9-Volt.

I've been at WarioWare for a month now, and a fortnight since the fire at the bookstore. So much has happened, I'd be here all day if I told all of it. But right now, everyone is getting pretty excited. It's my birthday in two weeks, and we all love any excuse for a party.

"Remember Jimmy's birthday last month?" Spitz reminded us. "Remember when he tripped on a wire in the middle of a dance and caused the disco ball to come crashing down?"

"I don't think we'll ever forget that," said Dribble, laughing.

"It wasn't my fault!" Jimmy insisted, but he was chuckling too. "Mona bumped into me!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Mona giggled.

"Whose birthday's next?" Ana piped up. "I can't wait for another party!"

"I think it's Ashley's," said Kat.

"We could have a witch themed party," Ana suggested.

"Like a Halloween party!" Kat bubbled happily. "But on a birthday instead!"

"I don't want to have a party," said Ashley. "Parties are silly and childish."

Kat and Ana whined and complained.

"What about my birthday?" I reminded them. "It's in two weeks. We can have a party then. I love parties."

Everyone immediately began suggesting ideas for my birthday party.

"We have to have video games," said 9-Volt. "Do you like that Tamagotchi game on the Wii?"

"What about party games, like Pin the Tail on the Donkey?" said Penny.

"I know! Pin the Tail on Spitz!" Dribble joked. Spitz gave a frightened yowl, unsure of whether his best friend was kidding or not. I wasn't sure either.

"We gotta have music too," said Jimmy.

"Oh, yes!" Ana cheered. "Kat and I learned a dance at kindergarten last week. It's called Macaroni."

Everyone stared at Ana, even Kat.

"Uh, sis? I think you mean Macarena," Kat corrected.

"Yeah! Yeah, that was it. Macarena."

"Alright," I said, taking a pencil and notepad out of my pocket, "we'll have music, video games, party games... what else?"

Everybody began to chat amongst themselves.

"And food!" Wario boomed, determined to be heard above everyone else. "A party isn't a party without food!"

Trust Wario to make food the top priority for my party.

"I like jelly," said Mona. "Let's have jelly, Mystery!"

"Yeah!"

"What about roast potatoes on sticks?" Dr. Crygor suggested.

"Um... alright."

"I would be happy to help with the preparation of the food, Mystery," said Orbulon.

I hesitated.

"Insect stew is my speciality," he added. "We could make some for your party."

Oh God.

"Thanks Orbulon, but... I don't really like insect stew."

"It sounds delicious," said Ashley. I couldn't tell whether she was serious or not. "We must have some at the party, Mystery."

There was no saying 'no' to Ashley. I'd be toast for sure.

Which is why we ended up with a bowl of lumpy, frothy, greyish-brown pulp in the middle of the party food table on the day.

"What IS that crap?" 9-Volt screeched when he saw it.

"Don't ask," I muttered. "Just don't."

Wario waddled up to the table, took a ladel, scooped up some of the stew and took a sip.

"This smoothie is delicious!" he said between sips, spilling some down his clothes. "But why the heck is in a bowl? Hey, 9-Volt! Mystery! Why are you looking at me like that?"

It was then that everyone gathered around me. Mona handed me a wad of letters. "Happy birthday, Mystery! These are from everyone!"

"Thanks, Mona!" I looked up. "Thanks, everyone!" I tore open the first envelope to find a card with a picture of the cutest sleeping dog and cat on the front. Opening it, I found it was from Dribble and Spitz. I thanked them and opened another card. I got one with Mario and Luigi on it from 9-Volt and 18-Volt, Orbulon gave me a 'Happy Easter' card(nobody questioned this), I got one with a picture of an autumn forest from Kat and Ana, and even Ashley gave me a card decorated with a picture of a witch and a black cat.

"It's a haunted card," said Ashley. "If you open it, you'll be cursed for life."

I laughed and said that was a funny joke, but I decided to open it later just in case...

There were also a few more letters from fans. I opened them last, and then I noticed Mona was still holding an envelope.

"Is that another birthday card, Mona?"

"This? No, I think it was sent here by mistake," Mona replied. "Though it was addressed to WarioWare, Inc., it says it's for someone called 'Gemstone'. I'll return it to the post office later. Mystery, are you OK? You've gone kinda pale."

I took a deep breath. "I'm fine. But give me the letter, Mona. I'll return it to the post office for you."

"What?" Mona laughed. "Don't be silly! You don't want to spend your birthday returning letters to the post office."

"But Mona-"

"No buts. Aw, don't give me that sad look. It's your birthday! Be happy! Now, who wants to play Pass the Parcel?"

Cries of 'me!' rose from the crowd. I played too, but I worried so much that I didn't notice when the parcel was passed to me and Ashley complained I was cheating. Mona shushed her, but I think she secretly agreed.

I didn't stop worrying when we all played Tamagotchi: Party On on the Wii either. Naturally, 9-Volt won.

I didn't stop worrying when we all had a dancing contest to that Macarena song either. Nobody actually knew the dance moves, except for Jimmy, Kat and Ana, so we mostly made up our own. Dr. Crygor's dancing was hilarious, but I didn't feel like laughing.

"What's wrong, Mystery?" Penny asked when we all gathered around a table for birthday cake. "You don't look very happy. Cheer up! It's your birthday."

Penny was right. I gave her a grateful smile just as the lights went out. Wario came into the room carrying a pink birthday cake with ten flickering candles arranged in the shape of a letter M. Everyone began to sing happy birthday, including me, but all of a sudden Wario stopped. He bent down to pick something up and as he did the cake plate slid out of his hand and landed with a splat on the floor. Luckily the candles went out, but the cake was ruined. Everyone stopped singing. Jimmy put the lights back on.

"A penny!" Wario laughed his usual 'Wa ha ha' laugh. "What luck!"

We all stared at him, gobsmacked. Wario didn't even notice. He simply sauntered back to his seat and sat down, holding his penny up to the light so it sparkled.

I felt like all my sparkle had been drained out of me.


	7. All is Revealed

CHAPTER 7: All is Revealed

Mona still insisted on returning that letter to the post office herself, even though I begged and pleaded. I decided that if I couldn't get the letter from Mona, I'd just have to get it from the post office once she'd returned it.

'But how?' I hear you ask. Well, first of all I rushed home as soon as the party was over to change clothes. I swapped my orange trainers for green ones and put on a fuchsia jumper over my t-shirt. I took my glasses off, replacing them with contact lenses because I can't see properly otherwise, and yanked out my hair bobble, letting my hair down(That sounds like Rapunzel, doesn't it? I wonder how she brushes her hair? It must take ages!). It's surprising how a few simple changes can make someone look so different.

The next step was to go to the post office. I needed to get there as quickly as possible, so I stopped the first taxi I saw. I peered through the driver's window and got the shock of my life.

"Where to, missy?"

It was Dribble and Spitz. I started trembling.

"You cold? Get in the cab, it's warm in here."

I did as he said.

"So where you goin'?"

"The p-post office, please."

"What's that?" said Spitz. "Speak up, missy!"

"Post office. I want to go to the post office, please."

"Hey, do I know you?" asked Dribble. "You look kinda familiar..."

Uh-oh.

"I... do?"

"Yeah. You look sorta like-"

"Dribble, watch it!" Spitz yelled, pointing. A little kid had just ran out into the road, chasing his football. Dribble slammed his foot on the brakes.

"That was too close!" cried Dribble. "I almost squashed that kid flat!" Dribble started driving again. He didn't say anything else about me looking familiar, much to my relief. Before long, we arrived at the post office, where I quickly thanked them both, paid the fare and clambered out of the taxi as fast as I could. I raced into the post office and up to the front desk. Luckily, there was no queue.

"May I help you?" asked the woman at the desk.

"I, er, think you have a letter for me here."

"Name?"

"Gemstone. Gemstone Rose."

"Ah, yes, we had a letter for Miss Gemstone Rose returned this morning." The lady reached under the desk and pulled out a familiar envelope. She handed it to me.

"Thank you!"

I rushed outside and tore open the envelope. My eyes flew down the page. It was a very short letter.

'Dear Gemmy,  
>Happy birthday! And congrats on your new job, sweetie.<br>Love Mom'

So it was from my mom. I knew I should never have told her about my job...  
>I folded the letter and put it in my pocket. Then I trailed home, living up to Wario's name for me, wondering what to do.<p>

-x-

The next day, I had decided to tell Mona. She was my best friend now, so I felt I could trust her. I asked her to meet me behind the Microgame Studio after our lunch break.

"Mona, can you keep a secret?" I whispered, just in case anyone was lurking.

"Of course. What is it Mystery?"

"My name's not Mystery."

There was an awkward silence.

"Wh-What do you mean?" asked a confused Mona.  
>"Mystery... is my secret author double life. Hence the name 'Mystery'. My real name is... Gemstone. Gemstone Rose."<p>

Mona gasped. "That letter!"

"I went to the post office and picked it up, don't worry."

"So are you... in disguise, or something?"

I smiled. "Now you see Mystery." I removed my glasses and pulled out my hair bobble, letting my hair flow past my ears and down my back. "Now you see Gemstone. Well, I usually wear a fuchsia jumper and green trainers too, but-"

"Why did you keep it a secret?" Mona cried. "We're your friends! How could you not tell us?"

"My own family doesn't know. I've never told anyone at school either. If they knew I was Mystery, they would all clamour to be my friend."

"Well, that's great, isn't it?"

"No," I responded sadly. "They would only want to be my friend because of my popularity as an author. That's not real friendship. I was worried you would all be like that, so I came here as Mystery, resolving never to reveal my true identity."

"That's understandable," said another, familiar voice, "but whether you are Mystery or Gemstone, we will always be your friend."

"O-Orbulon!" I cried. "How long have you been standing there?"

"I have been shamelessly eavesdropping for approximately two minutes and thirty seconds."

"So you pretty much heard the whole thing." I buried my head in my hands. "Great. I suppose you're both going to tell everyone now."

"Of course not," Orbulon assured me.

"You asked for it to be kept a secret, and it will," Mona added.

"Not for long!" said a third voice. I looked up. 9-Volt was sitting atop the Microgame Studio! Well, not at the very top, unless he wanted a very sore backside, but you get what I mean. He had recorded the whole thing on his 3DS. "I'm gonna go show this to everyone!" He leapt off the Microgame Studio and made a dash for it, but Mona caught him by the collar. "Let me go!" he yelped.

"Only if you must promise me, 9-Volt," I hissed, "never to tell another soul."

"Well... OK, but... why?" 9-Volt questioned. Mona let go of his collar.

"You know why. You just heard the whole thing."

"No, I meant why did you think we wouldn't like you unless you came as your famous author double?"

"Because..." I hesitated. "...that's how everyone treats me. One minute I'm Gemstone, a normal girl, and nobody wants to know me. I'm not even considered normal; I'm loopy, I'm crazy, I'm different."

"But... so is 'Mystery'." said Orbulon, confused.

"Exactly, and it makes me sick," I snapped. "I go to a book signing, as Mystery of course, and half the queue is people I know from school saying that they love me and my books and my wild imagination. 'Mystery, you're amazing, I wish I could be like you. Let me suck up to you because you're famous.'"

My three friends giggled, but I soon silenced them with an angry glare.

"S-Sorry, Mystery..." Mona whispered.

"No, no, I'm the one who's sorry," I sighed. "I shouldn't have come here in the first place."

"B-But why?" cried 9-Volt.

"I had no choice but to come as Mystery. When I got the letter from Wario, that's who it was addressed to." I took a deep breath. "I'll leave tomorrow. I shouldn't even be here. Me being hired to work here was an accident."

"You can't leave! Please don't!" Orbulon begged. "Why do you want to leave?"

"Are you really that dumb?" I said scornfully. "I know that you all like me just because I'm a famous author."

"That's not true!" Mona insisted.

"Oh really?" I responded coldly. "What was one of the first things you said to me, Mona?"

Mona thought hard - and gasped.

"That's right," I hissed. "'I love your books. After I heard you had come to Diamond City I simply had to ask you to visit.' Your exact words. The only reason you wanted me to come to WarioWare was because I'm an author you like."

A tear rolled down Mona's cheek. "Mystery, I-

"I don't want to hear your excuses," I interrupted. I looked round at my co-workers, one by one, giving them each another glare. Mona was already crying. 9-Volt was on the verge of tears. Orbulon lifted his sunglasses and rubbed his wet eyes. They seemed genuinely sad. I wanted to give them all a hug and tell them I was sorry and I wanted to stay and could they ever forgive me.

But I didn't want to stay, nor did I want their forgiveness. They should be the ones apologising. I was also dangerously close to tears, so I stormed off back into the HQ and locked myself in the girls' toilets. Then I cried and cried and cried.

I couldn't believe what I had done. I had thrown away three of my dearest friends. That's what they were to me. But to them, I wasn't a true friend. I was simply someone famous, and that's all they liked me for.


	8. True Friends

CHAPTER 8: True Friends

"Wario," I began at the next day's meeting, "may I make an announcement?"

"Hmm..." Wario considered. "No."

"Please? It's important."

"No."

I glared at him and stood up, deciding I would make my announcement anyway. Wario could deduct my pay all he liked. It didn't matter. I wasn't going to be here much longer. Mona, 9-Volt and Orbulon exchanged worried glances, knowing and dreading what my announcement was going to be.

"I'm no good at speeches, so I'll make this short," I annouced to everyone. "I'm leaving WarioWare."

There were some gasps and a bit of murmuring amongst my soon-not-to-be-co-workers. I heard Ashley mutter 'whoop de do'. I didn't know if she meant it or not. I glared at her anyway. She glared back.

"Why are you leaving, Mystery?" Kat piped up.

"We don't want you to leave," Ana added.

"Why?" I asked out of curiosity.

"We like you," they said in unison.

"And why do you like me?"

The twins paused and thought hard. Then, Ana said, "You're good at telling stories."

"That's all I need to know," I said harshly. "Does anyone else have anything to add?"

Silence.

"I didn't think so. Today is my last day. I'm not even supposed to be here. I was hired by mistake. So I'll do us all a favor and clear off." With that, I slowly sat down again, giving everyone an evil glare as I did. There was a long silence.

Wario broke the silence by yelling at me, but I didn't really listen. I didn't listen to much of the meeting either. When Wario announced the meeting was dismissed I was the first one to get up and leave. For some strange reason, everyone else stayed. I listened to what they were saying once I was gone, my ear to the door, but I couldn't hear much. I heard 'Mystery mumble mumble leaving mumble mumble party' followed by cheering. So they were celebrating my departure? I knew they never really liked me. Well, good riddance to them.

-x-

I decided to keep out of everyone's way that afternoon by taking a nap. When I woke up I went along to the meeting room to see if everyone was still there. I put my ear to the door again. I heard whispering and giggling. They were still there, no doubt whispering and giggling about me. So they see me as a laughing stock, do they? We'll see about that.

I twisted the door knob, pushed the door open, and got the shock of my life.

"SURPRISE!"

I screamed. "What the f-"

I was cut off by Mona choking me to death. Well, she called it a hug, but I felt a little dizzy afterwards and gasped for air.

"What's going on, Mona?" I demanded. "Why is everyone celebrating because I'm leaving? Did you all really hate me that much?"

"No no no! We're not celebrating your leaving at all!" Mona laughed. "It's a farewell party. We decided that if we can't persuade you to stay we might as well have a happy goodbye," she explained.

"I'll miss you, Mystery," 9-Volt whimpered. "You're the best I know at playing video games. Well, next to me and 18-Volt, of course."

"Word!"

"You were very heroic when you rescued us from the burning bookstore," said Orbulon, which wasn't true in the least, but it was sweet of him all the same. "You shall be missed dearly."

"Yeah, I'll miss our girly chats together," Penny sighed.

"Your sense of humor was fantastic," said Dr. Crygor.

"What do you mean 'was'?" said Ashley. "You said that as if she's about to die or something."

"Good thing she's not!" said Dribble. "It's bad enough she's leavin'."

"We'll still keep in touch, right, Mystery?" said Spitz.

"We loved it when you came with us on Shadow's walks," said Kat.

"You're good with animals," said Ana.

"Your taste in music is pretty weird," said Jimmy, "but that's what I like about you."

"Where am I gonna find another comic artist?" Wario moaned. "Mystery was great at that! Her comics made me loads of money!"

Wario had actually remembered my name. I looked at everyone, all my friends, one by one. I guess they really like me after all.

"Come on, everyone! Let's make Mystery's farewell party the best party she's ever had!" Mona declared. Everybody cheered. Everybody except me. I tapped Mona on the back. She spun around. "What's wrong, Mystery?"

"Mona. I'm sorry for everything I said to you yesterday."

"Hey, what about us?" 9-Volt demamded, rushing over with Orbulon. "You said stuff to us too!"

I laughed shakily. "Yes, I'm sorry to you guys too."

"You should tell the others," said Mona. "You know, what you told us."

"I don't trust them as much as I trust you three. Besides, I think Dribble and Spitz suspect something already. And I didn't exactly tell Orbulon and 9-Volt."

The two eavesdroppers blushed guiltily. 9-Volt took out his 3DS.

"I'll delete the recording," he said.

"Thanks, 9-Volt."

"Come on, you lot!" Wario called. "You're missing all the fun!"

"Yeah, come on," said Mona, taking my hand. "Let's go dance."

"Wait, Mona."

"Huh?"

"I've decided to stay."

"You WHAT?"

"Why so shocked? I thought you wanted me to stay."

"I do!" Mona hugged me again. "You mean it? You're really gonna stay?"

"Of course I mean it."

"Yay!" 9-Volt cheered, joining the hug.

Orbulon joined too. "That's wonderful."

"Hey, you guys!" Wario bellowed. "Are you deaf? Get your butts over here and join in!"

"We'd better do what his Highness says," 9-Volt laughed.

"Race you!" I grinned, and the four of us made a mad dash for the dance floor.

-x-

I didn't think anyone could be stranger, crazier, and loopier than me. But that's what I like about them. My strange, crazy, loopy friends. But none of them are as mysterious as I am. They don't have a secret identity. Some of them(though I won't mention any names) probably couldn't keep a double life secret for five minutes.

My name is Mystery. Well, it's not my REAL name. My real name is Gemstone Rose. And I am truly a Mystery.

THE END


End file.
